Thursday night, we spent the evening teaching some other members of our church how to make sourdough bread.
As I am setting up, and people are filing in, they inform me they have been told I am the sourdough expert. I promptly replied, I am definitely not an expert, but happy to teach what I know.
The class went well, and you could see people light up as they learned things they did not know before.
There will always be things that you do not know. Sometimes those things will feel like a huge mountain put before you. And the older we seem to get, the less flexible and willing to learn we become.
Yet true growth only comes through trying new things.
For me, teaching in front of people used to be hard. Talking or showing up on video was hard. It took practice and learning my voice, my tone. Writing these newsletters and blog articles was the same.
It’s taken time to learn and adapt to being in front so I can pass the knowledge I have learned to others. For those in the class, it took guts to show up and admit they were struggling with making sourdough. That mountain felt extreme to climb. But we all got through it.
Sure, you will fail. On a homestead, you will lose animals to the winter when you do not know how best to keep them warm. At least one (or maybe 50) tomato plants will die under your care.
But you will learn from those missed steps. And do better the next time. You can only stand to grow. Sometimes it’s painful to learn.
The other day we watched, for the countless time, Kung Fu Panda. In the movie, Master Shifu eloquently quotes “If you only do what you can, you will never be more than you are now”.
This is true in our everyday lives. Find something new, learn something, and go for it. Take the lumps and come out better for it. Feel the growth.
In the end, if you set your mind to it, then YES, you can do this.